


Stricken by a New Chance to Live

by EJBEisGay



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Canon typical vulgarity, Crying, Everybody Lives, First Kiss, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27700514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EJBEisGay/pseuds/EJBEisGay
Summary: The Losers - all seven of them - have survived hell. And Richie thinks about how he almost lost Eddie - and the others - in the process. With just a grin, his feelings arise once again.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 2
Kudos: 48





	Stricken by a New Chance to Live

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ClaraSE](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaraSE/gifts).



> Happy birthday!! Hope you enjoy this fic, as per your request!! :) Really happy to have you in my life <3
> 
> shout-out to [LouPF](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LouPF/works) and [CrazyDane666](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazydane666/pseuds/Crazydane666) for beta-reading!! u sexy bitches saved my ass
> 
> Enjoy boo <3

Eddie was alive.

Eddie was alive and breathing and alive alive _alive_ , and he was _here_ and he was by Richie’s side and Richie didn’t know _what to fucking do._

He was so close to losing Eddie, down in the evil lair of that damn fucking clown. _They_ were close to losing Eddie. Had it not been for Eddie’s smart brain to roll away from plain sight, Richie knew that Eddie would’ve been killed by the weird fucking tentacle spear that It threw at the two of them.

(The fact that Richie got to hold Eddie in his arms for a few seconds was a bonus more than anything. He couldn’t deny that seeing Eddie’s face up close after they had _just_ shied away from death was exhilarating.

And, well, maybe his head was still a bit fucked from the weird orbs he saw, but whatever. He was fine. Everything was fine.

Eddie was alive.)

After escaping the sewers and leaving the house to collapse in on itself- they fled. They didn’t really know where to go at first, so all they did was wander aimlessly in the too-empty-for-this-hour shit town and hold one another close, as if they were all coming back wounded from war. 

And that’s really what happened, right? The Losers had finally defeated the evil that plagued Derry for so long, almost losing a few of the Losers in the process, but they were alive and safe and- and what were they supposed to do now? Go back into the real world as if nothing ever happened? Go back to their old lives, as if they hadn’t just done something that no one ever did before and deal with their crappy old lives?

Richie knew that, no matter what, he wouldn’t go back home alone after all that happened. He would keep the Losers by his side ‘til the day he died, that was for sure.

He couldn’t even remember who was the one that decided they should all go to the cliff they used to jump off of all of the time when they were kids. It didn’t really matter. Nothing really mattered.

Eddie was holding Richie’s hand by the time they arrived at the cliff, gripping onto it so tightly Richie almost lost feeling in his fingers. He welcomed it. Why would he give up an opportunity to hold Eddie’s hand, anyways? 

Richie didn’t remember there being a shit metal fence at the cliff, last time he was there. Not like it would stop any of them from jumping off - or anyone else for that matter. And with the sun shining down on them, built up tension about to snap into a flurry of emotions as the thick silence stretched on, and their future the most uncertain it had ever been to all of them-

They jumped.

The water was cold. Ball dropping cold. Freezing his ass up and making his dick shrivel up kind of cold. It wasn’t helping that the rest of the Losers were all trying to drown one another from the euphoria of surviving hell itself when he felt like his _everything_ would fall off. but it did help them get rid of all of the sewer shit and blood and dirt they were covered in. A blessing in disguise. Or, well - a blessing that helped them get rid of literal shit and piss.

He saw Bill and Mike trying to overpower Ben into the water, he saw Stanley and Beverly just chatting as they floated in the water. Richie dipped down under the water for a few seconds, closing his eyes and letting everything around him die down - letting himself feel the cold water and the ever growing pressure in his chest. When he came back up to the surface, Eddie was trying to swim away screaming like a little bitch while Ben tried to possibly drown him. It was all so familiar, in a way, and yet so foreign.

Richie was quick to adapt. Quick to survive. It’s what he had to do his entire childhood, and his adulthood wasn’t any different. So he made quick work of getting to Bill and trying to wrestle him under the water as well. Because this is what adults do, right?

When things calmed down and everyone was finally resting out of the water (Stanley and Beverly were still floating in the water for some reason, so Bill and Ben went after the two of them), it was quiet. A bit more quiet than usual. Everyone was waiting for the ball to drop, for something to happen, but. Nothing really happened.

It felt like they were lucky, in a way. That they were supposed to be less by the end of this. Richie didn’t know if the others felt the same, but looking at the uneasiness in everyone's shoulders and the quick glances around- he wasn’t alone in this train of thought. He was about to voice it when he felt Eddie’s hand take a hold of his own. It immediately stopped him in his tracks.

His hand was warm and way too soft for his age, and it was squeezing Richie’s. It wasn’t a strong squeeze, really, but it was there and it was real and it grounded Richie to that moment like nothing else could.

Richie looked at Eddie and found him looking back. He wasn’t smiling this time, no. He had a thoughtful frown on his face, with his cute lips in a small pout - and his eyes were looking all over Richie like there was something wrong. Or missing. Or maybe he was checking Richie out, not like he could read minds or whatever.

“What’s up, Eduardo? Clown’s got your tongue?”

Eddie scowled. “No, you asshole. I’m just thinking.”

Richie leaned back on his arms. “Wait, you can think? That’s a fucking surprise.”

He heard the other Losers laugh, and Richie grinned when Eddie’s scowl deepend. "Haha, very funny. You're making me piss my pants with laughter, trashmouth.”

“Good one, Eddie Spaghetti. Make sure your mummy cleans up after you as well-”

More laughter from the other Losers and hoots as Eddie jumped at Richie, trying to get him to shut up. Richie had the time of his life wrestling Eddie down to the ground, laughing until his stomach hurt. And when Richie looked down at Eddie underneath him - Eddie, who had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face with his fucking dimples - Eddie, alive and breathing and _alive_ -

Richie _burned_ in that moment. He knew why. He knew very fucking well why it felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest and why his eyes stung. He knew so fucking well, after 27 years of forgetting all about it, Richie fucking _knew_.

(But did he ever truly forget? About his first true love? About the boy that took so much of his mind and heart back when they were such puny kids? And now this handsome hunk-- eh-- of a man?)

Looking at Eddie - into his damn fucking eyes that Richie dreamed about so long ago and the grin he had on his face and his cute nose and his ruffled, wet and dusty hair and that bloodied fucking bandage across his cheek and all of the blood still staining his clothes, Richie tried to take all of that in (Eddie was alive, alive, _alive_ -). Everything he could see, every single pant of exertion or small huff of laughter coming out of him, all of it was so alive and beautiful and Richie felt like bursting from the inside out with how full of life _he_ felt in that moment. And Stanley and Mikes’ laughter, Beverly’s cackles and Ben’s and Bill’s hoots out in the air, and the little giggles that Eddie was letting out- it was too fucking much.

He was so transfixed by Eddie in that moment. He was sure the moment that Edds would break eye contact with him everything would shatter and all of this, this beautiful reality they were now a part of with no clown they would have to deal with ever again, would disappear. 

When Richie had to get off Eddie in the end, Richie was the one who broke the eye contact and his chest ached with an emptiness he hadn’t felt in years. An emptiness he promised himself he wouldn’t let himself feel again. And when Eddie got up from the ground, as did all the other Losers, talking about going back to Mike’s place and getting something to drink, something snapped inside of him and Richie _broke_.

(It ached, it ached, it **ached-- don’t leave him, don’t leave him, _not_ again-**)

“Hey, hey,” and Eddie was back, kneeling beside him and he was holding his face now, and Richie realised he was crying, “I’m here, ok? I’m here,” Eddie said to him. Why was he crying? _Why was Richie crying?_

Eddie brushed the tears off his cheeks and pressed his forehead against Richie’s, and his throat closed up and Richie couldn’t help but let out a sob at the way Eddie was looking at him. He was smiling and he looked the happiest Richie had ever seen him and so, _so_ relieved. Richie felt the same, but it seemed like he was crying instead of smiling this time.

“ _How?_ ” Richie asked, choking on one of his sobs, and he wasn’t even sure _what_ he was asking for anymore. “Fucking _how_ , Eddie?”

Eddie’s smile only got bigger and turned brighter and Richie sobbed harder as Eddie brought him into a hug. And he felt so cared for and so _loved_ , how could he have gone for so long without really hugging this fucking guy that he just _loved so fucking much._

“I don’t know,” Eddie laughed, and Richie only sobbed harder. “I guess it was just luck.”

Richie knew he was right. It was all fucking luck at the end of the day. The idea that Eddie could’ve died almost killed Richie inside, but Eddie was alive. He was alive and breathing and well and here and so warm, and Richie was here with him.

He was so happy.

The sun seemed to burn brighter and he took notice of the silence around them. Richie peeked a look from his very comfortable spot in the crook of Eddie’s neck , he saw the rest of the Losers all holding on another a few feet away, looking away from the two of them as they had their little moment. It looked like some of the others were crying as well. 

At least he wouldn’t be called a fucking crybaby for this, Richie thought. He leaned back and met Eddie’s gaze - a gaze that was shimmering with unshed tears. Eddie was sniffling - but still smiling, of course.

Richie would never get tired of that smile.

“So, what now?”

“What?”

“I mean, we killed this fucking clown, right? What _now?_ ”

The brown eyes that Richie loved so much sparkled. The fucking sparkle that he missed so much. The sparkle that only meant trouble.

“Well. I guess we fucking live now, Richie. We fucking _live_.”

And then Eddie leaned in, looking him in the eyes all the while, and _kissed him._

_Eddie fucking kissed him._

It was short and a little wet and salty from Richie’s tears, but it felt _right_. It felt like something they were supposed to do a long time ago, and when Eddie went to lean back Richie grabbed him by the nape of his neck and brought him in again.

And this time Richie didn’t hold back. Richie kissed him and tried his best to put in all of his relief and joy into it, put in all of his fucking frustrations and feelings into it. He wasn’t sure if it all went across, but the rumble in Eddie’s chest when Richie licked and nipped at his lips definitely meant something.

They departed to the whistles of the others and it hit Richie that they weren’t actually alone. It didn’t really matter, though. Richie leaned his forehead against Eddie’s, who only looked at him as if he couldn’t get enough of him. 

Richie felt the same way.

“I’ve got you now Eduardo,” Richie whispered. “I’m not letting go of you ever again, got it?”

Eddie grinned in response. “Good. Because I’m not going to let go of you, either.”

They went in for a kiss again, raising their middle fingers at the other Losers when they started clapping. It didn’t fucking matter anymore. Nothing mattered, other than the fact that all of them were stricken by a new chance to live.

And by fucking God, would Richie take advantage of it.


End file.
